1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is means for fixing the fingering of a guitar string or other fretted stringed musical instrument string.
2. Description of Related Art
In guitars and other fretted musical instruments, one or more strings are stretched under tension across a sounding board or other main body of the instrument which, upon the string vibrating, amplifies and emits a sound. One end of the strings are anchored at one side of the main body or sounding board, strung across the sounding board, and along an elongated neck portion attached to the main body. The other end of the strings are then anchored at the end of the neck away from the main body to tuning pegs or other devices which permit adjustment of the string tension. At variously determined intervals along the neck portion are a plurality of frets, i.e., transverse ridges which underlie the plurality of strings and which in turn are resting upon a fretboard. The strings do not touch the frets, even during vibration.
On guitars or other fretted stringed musical instruments it is common for the musician to use the hand not plucking the strings to press one or more strings of the instrument with one or more fingers to the frets along the neck of the guitar or other musical instrument.
The sound emitted from a plucked string is termed its pitch and is determined by the relationship of the tension of the string, its mass per unit length which is a function of the string's diameter, and the length of the string available for vibration (effective length). The effective length of the string is the distance between the first anchor attached to the main body of the fretted stringed instrument, called the bridge, and a second anchor, called the string nut. Many times, all the strings ride over a saddle which is immediately adjacent to the bridge. The effective length then starts at the saddle. At the neck far end is the second anchor, the string nut over which all of the strings pass and contact immediately before they are attached to the tuning pegs.
To change the pitch of the string, one merely shortens the string and to accomplish this, the player need only to press down on the string to engage one of the frets on the fretboard portion of the neck of the instrument. This procedure reduces the effective string length to the distance between the saddle and the fret. As a general rule, the 12th. fret on a guitar is located one-half of the distance between the saddle and the string nut. If the string is held at the 12th. fret, the pitch doubles. A violinist or guitar player is constantly fingering the instrument as he plays it, using the fingers of the hand not plucking the strings or drawing a bow across the strings to change the pitch as called for by the musical score.
It has been determined that it would be useful to mechanically finger one or more strings of a stringed instrument for a changed, but constant pitch, during a whole musical number while at the same time making the instrument strings, including the mechanically fingered string, still available for further fingering by the musical player. It is to this invention that the subject patent is directed.